June 13, 2021, 3:36 a.m.

(The Guardian) Follow all the latest updates on the pandemic as a UK poll shows public support for a delay in the easing of restrictions 8.36am BST A prominent academic has joined calls for the UK government to postpone its planned lifting of coronavirus restrictions on 21 June, PA reports.Epidemiologist Sian Griffiths also said an envisaged “all-or-nothing Freedom Day” could be a bad idea in itself, promoting instead a more gradual lifting of measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus.The public health advice would be to take it slowly and in a sustained way so we can keep up the progress we’ve been making.It does depend on the balance. It’s a political decision at the end of the day, what happens on the 21st of June, but, from a public health point of view, we’re seeing the cases increase, we’re seeing a slight increase in hospitalisation in areas where there are a lot of cases, and the vaccination does work, but we need to get second doses into everybody over 50, and expand the vaccination programme to keep e…

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